The Cook Islands Ministry of Education in July officially launched the Education Master Plan. The plan will spearhead the Cook Island Education focus for the next 15 years. The official launch took place at the University of the South Pacific (USP) campus and saw representatives from various government and non-government sectors, tertiary institutions, dignitaries, members of the community and students.

This occasion marks a milestone achievement for the education sector and compliments government’s initiatives and development for education over the next 15 years.

In his opening speech, the Secretary of Education, John Herrmann, paid tribute to the contributions invested in the plan by previous Ministers, Heads of the Ministry, the wide range of stakeholders who were consulted, (this included consultation with principals of Rarotonga Schools, Disability Action Team (DAT), Creative centre, Red Cross, DNHRD, USP), and the NZAID, Pride funding agency.

The Master plan with it’s focus on ‘Learning for Life’, is underpinned by the principles of efficiency, equity, excellence, partnerships, quality, relevance and sustainability. Hermann also underlined the many challenges in the implementation of this plan.

“The challenges we face is that the goals and objectives of this plan will not be realized unless and until there is a dramatic change in mindset within the country at large..."

“The challenges we face is that the goals and objectives of this plan will not be realized unless and until there is a dramatic change in mindset within the country at large; a movement towards what Paula Freire calls the conscientisation (further reading supplied on page 2) of the population at large. As professional educators we all need to strive for improved qualifications, a higher level of professionalism and strong work ethic.”

He further made a plea to parents and caregivers to embrace their role of parents as first teacher’s with vigour, enthusiasm and a greater sense of responsibility to providing quality learning in the home, to ensure a firm foundation upon which all future learning will grow and flourish.